Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, pp 1776-1777
Duritha Trail Lewis
Birthdate: 5 Jan 1813 Franklin, Simpson Co., Kentucky
Death: 1 Apr 1878 Holladay, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Parents: Soloman Trail, Nancy Durant Trail
Pioneer: 10 Oct 1850 Joseph Young Wagon Company
Spouse: David Lewis
Married 23 Nov 1834 Franklin, Kentucky
Death Sp: 2 Sep 1855 Parowan, Iron Co., Utah
Children:
Mahala Arminta, 20 Oct 1835
Preston King, 15 Nov 1839
David, 1 Mar 1843
Sidney/Siney (twin) 1 Aug 1848
Olive (Brenton), 1 Aug 1848
William Trail, 14 Jun 1852
Duritha was born in Kentucky, 1813. She was the daughter of a wealthy land owner. She lived on a beautiful plantation and was waited on by slaves. At age 21, she married David Lewis. They became members of the L.D.S. Church 21 Mar 1835, and in 1837 they took their daughter arminta and went 60 miles to join the Mormons in Missouri. They built a home about 18 miles from Far West by Haun's Mill. In 1838 the massacre took the life of David's brother Benjamin and wounded his brother Tarlton. David had five holes in his clothing, but no wounds. They hid in a thicket with their two year old. David was held prisoner three weeks and finally released.
Duritha was in Kentucky while David served a mission. A son was born. Her father died leaving her three slaves, two women and a man, clothes, money and food supplies. They joined the saints in Nauvoo. It was from here that daughter Arminta eloped. They never saw her again, although they heard rumors she was married and had children. Twins were born in Mosquito Creek, Iowa in 1848. The Lewises crossed the plains in the Joseph Young Wagon Train, arriving in Salt Lake City 10 Oct 1850. Duritha's trials increased as the winter was long, hard and they suffered with lack of food. Her last child was born when she was thirty-eight years old, making six in all. She used her inheritance to buy a small house and ten acres of land where the City and County building now stands. Later she moved to Holladay.
David married two other women and went south to help colonize the territory serving in the Presidency of the Indian Mission, leaving Duritha with five children and the slave Jerry. Her son Preston and Jerry hauled wood and other work to support the family. Duritha was left a widow at age 42, when David died Sep 1855 of a stroke in Parowan and was buried there. Her second son David Jr. went to California to find work, became ill and died there at the age of twenty-five. William, her youngest boy, died at fifteen and Olive died at age thirty-two. Duritha died in Holladay at age sixty-five and was probably buried there, although her gravesite has not been located. She had been a widow for over twenty-two years.